Rugby World Cup 2023 – France Ticketing Purchase

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Stade Velodrome – Marseille, FR 2007 – New Zealand AllBlacks vs. Italy

Did you try to get Rugby World Cup (#RWC2023) Tickets as part of the recent Family Pass pre-purchase madness? Wow, it was an incredibly tedious process compared to the last time I purchased tickets for the RWC in France back in 2007!

Prior to the 2007 #RWC Rugby World Cup, I simply went to the French side of the website (I believe we bought tickets in 2005, much like the pre-purchase we are doing now in March 2021 for a trip and event in September 2023) and queued for a bit and purchased the tickets I wanted without numerous hours waiting online.

For 2023, Oh My Dieu – it was a much different and painstaking process! The purchasing of “Fave Team” match packages (where you follow your fave team) or the “Fave City” match packages (where you select a specific city you want to watch all the matches in) – was MUCH more arduous for the 2023 World Cup. I got kicked off the site more times this year than I care to remember.

Who else started at Zero %, got all excited about progressing to 100% and through the field goal posts, only to realize the system set you right back to Zero % again? Eghhh! Not to mention the fact that once you opened the browser page to start queuing up, you were instructed not to let the page or computer fall asleep, not to open extra tabs, and not to do anything else in life for those 5, 6, 7, 8 … hours but devote to getting your RWC match tickets.

I will say this, the intro video the French Rugby page loops over and over, gets you really excited about the games, highlighting some of the most picturesque scenes from each of the cities where matches will be held all over France, and then zig-zagging out of the cityscapes to glimpse a few of RWC’s all time game highs over the years. It’s definitely worth a watch, or 5. Once it loops for about the 25th time, we canned the volume!

Once you reach the inner sanctum of the 2nd layer of the ticketing process, it felt much like throwing yourself into a crazed mosh-pit, or say the crowds on Capitol Hill on January 6, and seeing where you landed or if you came out with all your limbs intact after the crazy happened!!

As soon as you were permitted onto the main ticketing selection page, then you had to start *rapidly* clicking random links “in hopes” of finding tickets in the cities you’re interested in, or for the teams you liked, and then hurry and make your selection of tickets needed, before the rapidly disappearing, limited availability “Family Pass” packages sold out!! Yes! Crazy! And intense! It wasn’t a good day for anyone who likes to avoid stressful situations haha!!

people starting a mosh pit at a concert
Rush Rush Rush – grab tickets!! by Vital1na on Pexels.com

We were hoping for a Marseille 4-match package, but managed to make it out of the ticketing madness and chaos alive with 2 sets of the 3-match packages, so Marseille, we shall see you in September 2023!! Here are some pics from our trips to previous Rugby World Cups around the world.

Beautiful hillside of Marseille and Vieux-Port de Marseille along with Notre Dame de la Garde overlooking the city, and the Calanques ferry ready to take folks on day tour to this pristine island nearby Marseille
2007 #RWC New Zealand All Blacks v. Italy at Stade Velodrome
Streets of Vieux Port Marseille, Rugby World Cup 2007. On this day in 2007, some of the All Blacks team members were rumoured to be down in the Old Port
South African Springboks at Lille France, Rugby World Cup 2007
Rugby World Cup 2011, Canada v. New Zealand – we were winning for the first 7 minutes or so!! 🙂

Did you manage to snag any Rugby World Cup 2023 tickets?

Let us know what you’re planning! We love the camaraderie that is displayed by all visitors to the World Rugby Cup. Much like the Soccer World Cup, this is a great way for people who love the sport to gather together with friends of like tastes and antics!! We look forward to seeing you there!